Colt - 1

A vicious smile lit my face as I inhaled that sweet sweet scent of gunpowder. The burn on my nose as it ignited and propelled a bullet forward.

'Ah' I practically moaned, it was too good, way too good. 

But then I turned to the contraption next to me, what many in my quant village had called an abomination, a weird box thingy. And all other sorts of names.

I knew better though, this was a revolver. Six shots, with each of them packed with an optimal ratio of gunpowder.

Today was the day, today I would set out on my journey. To bring the wonder of the gun to the world.

See I had not always been an inhabitant of this world. I was an accomplished gunsmith. One that flew too close to the sun. Damn the ATF, I wanted my sawed off shotgun.

But no, they had to have a say, and so they shot my dog while I wasn't home. And in retaliation I went on a one man hunt to kill each and every one of them.

Pretty reasonable I would say.

They thought not and I was shot in the head in retaliation. So it all worked out, I killed the men who shot and killed my loyal pup and they got me.

What I didn't expect was to wake up in a new world. One completely fantasy. It seemed like they had no technology at all.

But when my new mother healed a scrape of mine with a few verses I was hooked. It was a great power that I found myself enamored with.

"But what about my guns?" I thought to myself, and then it hit me. I would combine the two and show the world the superiority of the gun.

And so here I was with the most basic gun I could make by myself. The parts had been made after I commissioned them -read blackmailed- from a local blacksmith. He wasn't too happy but then again when was he.

I mean we were in a small town and any dirty laundry that wasn't aired was gonna at some point. I just… what was the word… Yes, I hastened it.

And so today was the day. I would leave the town and show the world that gun beats magic.

[Ahem Ahem]

I heard a voice above me and I couldn't believe it, it was some sort of giant text bubble. Was this common? 

I had never heard or seen anything like this before, in all of my years here, so no, it was not something common. Me thinks that some being is messing around.

[So, many might think me some god and ah- I'm terrible at this…]

There was a muffled fight as the script was taken by some other person. Curiously I looked up once more and away from the sweet smell that was my gun. 

[Your world has been entered into a game, survive and the gods will favor you, do not and you will suffer. Each kingdom has three selected individuals that will be given a castle to defend. If that castle falls then so too will your kingdom. Pray that that does not happen.]

I hummed once more and went back to my revolver, holstering it over my waist and drawing it and shooting it at the target I had made.

Just because I was ready didn't mean that I didn't want to keep my accuracy up. And so within a second all three targets were pierced by bullets. 

"Bullseye!"

Only a moment later I found myself not where I was supposed to be. Instead I was sitting in the middle of a table, next to me were two other people. 

A noble girl and some sort of knight.

"Who are you?" They both asked at the same time.

"Colt." I merely said, ignoring them in order to see the surroundings. Honestly it didn't bother me that much. Being transported that was. But it seemed to bother them.

And so I just ignored the other two as they rambled among each other. Their voices fading to the background as monsters seemed to appear on the horizon.

I turned and walked outside of the room and into the wider castle. Leaving them to be however they wanted to be.

It was only then that they noticed and started to follow.

"Hey!" The girl yelled, as if I was some sort of servant. But I didn't care. I ignored her and went towards the zombies.

Or that was what they looked like at least. It was a bit hard to tell in the fading light as they honestly could be really green people.

But whatever.

[hem- hem-] 

The same voice said.

[Survive for the night, rewards will be given out to those that do]

With that the voice left and I whistled, clutching to my ammo and letting it fall into my free hand, waiting to reload.

I felt the cold air rush over me, watching as the knight looking guy yelled something about honor and kingdom. Or some other cringy shit. Then he just leaped over the wall with some sort of blue effect.

Mana? Maybe. I didn't know and couldn't really care less.

All I cared for was that he was killing more than me and so I took aim and started to kill the zombies that came close.

The woman too did something like that, except she didn't have a sword or gun. She took a whistle and blew it.

It echoed through my ear with an annoying sound.

But the dead zombies rose once more and fought their own battles. Each with another uncontrolled zombie.

I frowned and felt underwhelmed. This was supposed to be my deput, to show them the glory of guns. And so far magic and swords were doing better.

No matter I just needed to create something better.

But for now I aimed once more.

BANG BANG

I reloaded and shot hundreds more. I was proud of myself, I had been able to shoot three in a row. As long as they were lined up.

Which the noble girl did as soon as she noticed that I was able to do that.

….

….

….

"Ah the smell of gunpowder…" I practically moaned, I turned the gun around and blew the smoke with a small breath. All the while sniffing at the sweet, sweet scent of gunpowder. 

The other two had convened after the first wave. And apparently I was the only one to introduce myself as the other two just looked at each other with impassive gazes.

"So Colt," The noble lady addressed, "What was that that you used, was it some sort of new experimental weapon?"

My eyes shined and I was ready to go on a monologue but I was interrupted. 

"Please, Lady Sapphire, do you believe some… peasant boy could be involved with this obviously inferior weapon."

"I don't know, that's why I was asking K.N.I.G.H.T." Sapphire, the lilac haired noble, said back to the night, her voice filled with venom.

"Geeze, no need to be so pissed."

"Of course she would be." I spoke up with a matter of fact tone.

"And why would that be BOY?!" The knight crossed his arms and glared at me, his posture leaning forward in order to intimidate me.

But I merely smiled and stood up, giving a reverential gaze to the weapon that I had created. What this place had never seen before.

"Because this baby" I sighed out in reverence, "IS the greatest weapon that will ever be created. Any greater variant will always be better. And they will always be mine. I created it, the idea, everything. It is mine, and all because I -I sigh once more- introduced the gun to you peasants."

I threw his own insult back at him, my own grin as manic as could be.

"YOU DARE" The seat was thrown to the ground as he lunged at me. 

And Sapphire only watched on with a hidden smile. All behind her hand.

"I do." I coyly say.

I raise my revolver to his knee and shoot.

BANG

A bullet burst out and shot his knee.

He fell to the ground with a cry, and with tears in his eyes. Even his armor could not endure it.

And I just cackled over his prone form.

"Feel it!" I yelled to the sky, "FEEL THE POWER OF MY GUN"

.

..

…

"Ahem-" I cough into my fist, "That was a bit much, I apologize."

It was only to Sapphire but the knight glared at me again like I had done something personally offensive to him.

And I admit that I had shot him in the knee but he would heal. I mean we had a necromancer so worst come to worst we could use his corpse.

I shrug and turn my back as my body glows blue. 

"Oh, do we not stay the whole time, interesting." Sapphire said, a smile on her face as she looked at both of us.

"I'll remember you both, be prepared for next time." She said, and with that we all disappeared.

I found myself back in my hideout, all prepared for another adventure. But I decided against it. This was much more interesting.

Way more interesting indeed.

But for now I needed to develop something new. It was a blessing I could test out all of my inventions.

Though all I needed now was a proper forge.

…

…

…

[Sapphire POV]

"There are some towns, in the Rakia kingdom, that have fallen. Apparently the dead have risen there and they are blaming us. As the closest family of necromancers."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes subtly as I faintly closed my hand. The feeling of power coursing through my veins, the cold of the dead as they screamed their insults at me.

Ah- it was just so ecstasy inducing.

But of course I could not revel in that for long, as with the advent of this… game… that these so called gods had initiated there was much to do.

The most pressing, as a candidate of this game, was to become stronger. This first round was easy, but that was only because we had a good lineup. 

A knight that could take decent hits and give out the same, me, obviously, and the last. A quant peasant boy.

I touched my lips, turning from the meeting with father, he merely waved his hand. This meeting was redundant anyway.

After the so called game had begun, he had adapted quite well, and had given me the time to prepare for the next round.

Whether that was the day after today, or a month, even years should I need it. After all we Bone's were tough, we lived long, and gave even harder.

Heh- this was going to be fun, after all there was nothing more enjoyable than a good slaughter.

And so I leaped from the banister, down onto the pile of bones below. I searched for a bit before I found what I wanted, a necklace, glowing with energy.

I placed it over my neck and moaned in ecstasy, the power, it was greater, it was colder and yet still held a tint of warmth.

But then his face came to mind, that pretty face consumed by maniacal power. All because of his little invention. Oh how I wanted to tear into that, control him, use him as furniture. It was just too cute.

….

….

….

I felt a glowing light consume my body. Days had passed since the initial summoning, almost a week if I were counting right.

Five days and 12 hours. But it had not felt like that, as I researched combat spell after combat spell.

The crisis had opened the doors to father's study, his books, his experience. Oh the corpses I got to create, and the living I was able to desecrate.

It was so, just so, so, so great.

And as I was consumed, taken to the same table. My eyes glowed with a red tint, tainting my lilac hair with a contrasting color.

Again that boy was here, and so too the knight. He was so adorable, I wanted to just gobble up that skin, sew myself a new grimoire and maybe use his bones for some lamp or something.

"Mmm… Yeah that would work."

"What would work." 

I looked up to the boy, Colt was his name. He was caressing that same, gun was it called, with a reverent gaze that matched the insanity in my own eyes.

The knight, his name irrelevant, I had already forgotten it, was backing away slowly. Heh- coward.

And just as before the bells rang. Not literally, that would be silly. I giggled at my own joke, but really, the bell rang through my ear, signaling for me to jump from my chair.

I took Colt's hand in my own. Both of our manic eyes gazing deeply into the other.

"A bet?"

"What kind?" He asked.

"Who can kill more, I want to see the effectiveness of that gun of yours."

He smiled, even more maniacally than before.

"I also wanted to know if I could beat magic with this gun of mine."

"So the bet is on, loser gives one reasonable wish to the other?"

"Yep!"

….

….

….

BA-BANG BA-BANG BA-BANG

Gunshots echoed through the air, the plains surrounding the castle they were to stay in was filled with the corpses of both the undead and the still living.

Both were in the forms of humans. And just as one approached, another was taken down to the relentless shooting of the one above the tower.

Holding tightly to the trigger, his light gray eyes steeled themselves as he took another breath, steadying his stance before he took another shot.

It emptied the chamber that he had already refilled.

Another was dead, he marked it on his tally, the sheet that both him and Sapphire were using to keep track of their little bet.

The knight stood in the battlefield. Taking one down after the other. But he tired and after an hour of continued focus he was no longer able to fight.

His muscles burnt themselves out and he was currently reinforcing the other end, using the crossbow that he had found in the armory.

It was pathetic, and could barely even be called a weapon. At least that was what I thought. But then another thought occurred to me.

That the crossbow was the precursor to the gun and again I sighed.

Letting the breath I held out as I took one last shot. I was running low on ammo, not only because I had spent so many, but because I had not the materials to make much more.

It was actually kind of rare, well unless one was an alchemist which lets be honest, the townsfolk had thought me to be.

But even then with that misconception it was terribly expensive to get the ingredients I wanted. Which was why I had to pout as I ran out of ammo.

My bag was empty and there was nothing left to shoot with. 

I would have thrown my gun in frustration if it wasn't for the fact that this was the only gun I had, not like the armory that I had back on Earth.

And so I waited as the dead and undead thinned out. As Sapphire won the bet. All because I was too poor to afford to properly make more bullets.

"What do you want of me?" I turned to Sapphire and asked, and she only shook her head and winked, her finger covering her mouth as she took me to a corner.

Her expression was as manic as mine when I was talking about a gun, or something to improve them.

"Your nails, I want your nails!" 

…

…

…

"What…?" I recoiled back, clutching my perfect body as her face flushed red.

"Your nails, I know I said a small wish and this is perfectly small." She had this proud look about her, as if this was her initial plan.

I was sort of creeped out and sort of attracted. I mean who wouldn't be to someone who seemed so obsessed with you.

"C- can I ask what you intend to do with them?"

"Of course. I'm going to bottle them in a secret formula, then once their soaked in that and ready Imma form them into a tiny skeleton and have him follow me around on a preset desk. It'll be so cute."

I blinked, then blinked again, then once more for good measure.

I formed an O with my hands and then just nodded.

"Ok, a promise is a promise."

"Good… good." 

She took out nail clippers and started to cut my nails, and even massaged me a little, with this manic grin on her face as she carefully placed the fillings in a prepared jar.

Honestly it creeped me out a bit. But like… like… eh I couldn't really justify it. But it was still hot. 

"And done" A minute later and she was done. She hadn't even groped me again after the first bit.

I was actually looking forward to that though. And as the light faded, my body placed against the wall of my shed.

I smiled. 

…

…

…

I walked down the road, the rain pounding against my hood. I had left the tiny town and let myself be dragged by the winds.

Everything that I needed to create more bullets and guns was stuffed away in my bag. There was even some food for when I got hungry.

I even hummed a little tune as the road I was on got bigger and bigger. And as the rain started to lessen and lessen even more.

The sound of some carriage echoed through my mind. But I ignored it, after all it had nothing to do with me. I could just let it go by and be on my way.

But apparently not, as I just had to be accosted by what looked like merchants. Their smiles faked as they started to talk to me.

Why are you on your journey, this, and where are you going, that. It was so annoying. And so I was quite happy when, after I was let on the roof of the carriage, that some sort of monster attack happened.

It wasn't quite monsters but it was bandits. But let's be honest, bandits and monsters were the same, after all a good monster is a dead monster and the same could be said for bandits.

I loaded my gun with three bullets. It was all I had as that was all I could scrounge up.

But for them it would be enough.

So I turned my cloak, exposing my face to the cold air. And called out to them with a friendly greeting.

"Hey, how ya doing!" 

They responded as I expected, taken aback by my words and trying to sputter some response.

"Pretty good, about to rob this carriage, that fine with you." One joked and I laughed.

Then he laughed.

Then his buddy laughed.

Then I laughed again and shot him in the face.

Bang

I laughed again but they weren't laughing.

So I pouted and addressed them again.

"I thought we were having fun. Why aren't you laughing?"

None of them answered, instead they started to scream their war cries, though it sounded more like a dead bird. But that was okay, as the other escort knights took care of the rest.

But because of my limited rounds I could only pout and watch as the rest were taken care of. I really wanted to be able to kill them all, after all they were only good dead.

I couldn't though, because I needed to save my bullets for other threats that might be more urgent.

…

…

…

"Thanks for helping us." One of the merchants said, their eyes glimmering with deceit. But I just graciously accepted the bag full of money.

It was just enough for me to get some more materials. And the next time that anyone would see me, I would have another gun. Better than the others.

But first I needed supplies, so I gave my farewells to the merchants and left. The city was bustling with activity.

And I found myself in some alchemists shop, substituting ingredients for things that I could use.

They had more of a selection here too. Some metal bits that were extremely hard and even denser.

Apparently they were quite cheap because no one had found a use for them. But I did, I could use them to create a better bullet. 

It wasn't because of their density but because they could be used to create a set of weights. After all I did need some muscle if I wanted to create and use more guns.

So I bought enough to create myself a set then headed out again. This time for some burning powder. It was used along with a special blend to create an explosive mixture that I called this worlds gunpowder.

Then after that I used all of my saved up money to go to the town hall and buy myself some property.

I could practically cry because of the amount of money it took to do that, it was almost all of my savings.

But it was worth it, it was out of the way, had some previous blacksmiths equipment set up and even had some other things around there.

It was practically livable already.

But after I put my stuff down and started to create some more bullets with the meager supplies that I had I heard a voice in my head.

It was the same one that had announced the games to us. It said something about some rewards. Something about a monetary and power reward.

I could only choose one though and I chose monetary. Of course I would as if I didn't then I wouldn't have anything to use to create more guns and bullets.

So with the gold placed next to me I got to work. Shaping metal into springs, and other shapes. All for my next masterpiece.

…

…

…

[GameMaster POV]

"What the fuck! What the fuck!" 

"What? What? What happened?" One of the other developers asked, their tired eyes gazing at the being that was panicking.

"Theres a guy using technology. On server number 59392234"

"WHAT!" 

"I know, I thought we were told that this was a fantasy only run. SO why the hell is there a guy with guns in this run."

More and more beings were panicking, they weren't able to mess with them anymore, only give rewards and challenges, and even the challenges could only be set in certain times.

"HOLD, everyone just calm the fuck down!" I said, yelling at my team.

"We can figure this out, there hasn't been any negative reviews from the gods right. They aren't protesting our show?"

Another being responded to my question, his tired eyes looking over data.

"No, only a couple complaints but those are easy to deal with and simple patches. Apparently the server with the guy with a gun was a bit overpowered, they wanted a balance patch to make sure that they don't get too far ahead."

"Ok, Ok. We can work with this, we just need to make sure that this doesn't get too out of hand." 

I said, trying to calm the beings down. And it worked. They stood stock still in thought and tried to think of some solutions.

One actually thought of one and voiced it.

"We can merge their castle with another, double the difficulty and also merge some of the failing ones with more successful ones. It's a bit premature but it would still work right?"

"Yeah it could, we could start to ramp up a bit more. But that would mean that we need to give out the rewards now not after the tenth round like we had planned."

I nodded, "That would be fine, we just need to nerf them a bit. Rather than a power up or some power for the kingdom like we had planned put a monetary reward in there to weed out the greedy ones. If they see some gold it should work right?"

"Yeah," One of the more sensible ones said, "It should work to balance it out a bit. But do you want to keep the zombies or change it to something else. Maybe do a mission on the fifth rather than keep to the pattern?"

I thought for a moment before turning to the monitor, looking at the stats for a moment.

"Hmm" I hummed out.

"Lets do this, right this down." I absently said, "First send out the rewards now, and extend the time for the next round by a day. It should be exactly seven days rather than six and a half like we had planned. Then after that we will rework the servers, have the interns do that, and make sure that the peasants and nobles have to mix a bit more, there should be a balance."

I took a breath and made sure that the developer I was talking to got it. Then I began again.

"Ok, after that rework the shop to include more fantasy items, nothing that the gunsmith can abuse to make his guns."

"Then there wouldn't be much development on the tower's defense."

"SHUT IT! We can't have it end like the last one."

After I yelled the guy quietly shut up and just turned to do some work.

"Ok, let a bit of development but not a lot, and after that make it so that three regions, on the tenth round are pitted against each other. The mission should be made with that in mind. Were also going to rework the fifth mission to make sure that they aren't having too easy of a time."

I took another breath and watched as the rest went to work, a proud smile on my face as the minutes passed by. And as the countless interns, all of different species, started to sort the servers.

There were millions of them, curse that planet for being a hundred times the size of the usual.

It had thirty different super continents, each one of them with a different race and different magic system.

Like what the fuck, that was something only seen in one in a trillion planets, and it just so happened that one of the ones we found, perfect for fantasy only, had to have a gunmaker in it.

Even when we cherry picked it out of the infinite universes.

Like fuck… I silently shed a tear. I just wanted to retire.

I looked to the one I intended to pass the seat to, and hoped that maybe in the next million years I could pass it to him.

But not now, I sighed and rubbed my temples, now I needed to fix this mess and appease the fucking gods.

My head impacted against the desk, rubbing against it with a painful smack. And I was ready to do this.

…

…

…

[Colt POV]

I laughed once more, feeling the increased power of the revolver in my hands. I had made some lets say… enhancements to it. 

For one I had enlarged the bullets, putting more powder and even less lead into the tip. It would have a smaller impact zone but that was fine, as it gave it much more piercing power.

Not that it really needed it but I had already noticed that the zombies and undead were increasing in power and toughness.

And even though my revolver was able to take them down for now, it wouldn't be true in the next rounds.

As I could already feel as if they were becoming a bit less effective. For every three that I could pierce through in the first round I could only do two in the second round.

And following that logic it wouldn't be long before they didn't pierce at all and that just wouldn't do.

But even disregarding that I was excited, this challenge, increase in difficulty and all was thrilling. I was able to make more adjustments to my gun.

Make it easier to reload, easier to expend the bullets, and even increase the accuracy and spread a bit with some more accurate rifling.

It was practically heaven for me. And so I wiped the sweat from my brow and felt the cold against my skin.

My stomach growled in hunger and I looked to the meager amount of money I had left. 

There were two piles, the pile for supplies and other things needed for my guns, and the other. The living expenses.

Even if the rewards had given me a lot of money. Equivalent to about ten thousand back in freedom dollars.

But for all of that a single bullet, bought in bulk mind you, cost about 2 dollars. And even more after the cost of labor and all of that.

I was kind of accounting for labor in that I had to spend my time doing all of this, not that I didn't enjoy it, but I needed to upgrade my machines to be a bit more efficient, making more than just one bullet in a minute or so.

And better measuring tools.

So the initial pile for ammo and supplies had gone from nine thousand, the other thousand was for food and other things, to about two thousand.

And so it was enough to keep me up and fed, but it wasn't enough to develop my next step. A shotgun. I wanted to get down and dirty with them, and the best option would be a shotgun. Or a trench gun. Or something fully automatic.

But to do that I would need to develop all of this, pay taxes on the materials, and the materials themselves. And even the fuel and licenses for using the blacksmithing tools.

It was a never ending need for money. But maybe… I thought back to Sapphire, the rich noble girl.

I smiled, thinking of the next competition. I would win and I would request some money, for development, yes for development.